Inspired by Alison Wu's beautiful banana bread that she made with Simple Mills gluten and grain free banana bread mix, we decided we needed to make our own TTK version! Instead of using the store-bought mix, we created our own flour blend with flax seeds. Flax is so good for the body in many ways (hence the "super power" of this bread), but it specifically helps with boosting the immune system and decreasing risk of eye disease.

This bread is healthy enough to eat for breakfast, but delicious enough to serve as a decadent dessert. It is also an easy preparation process, so as always, your little ones can get involved in most of the steps! Once the banana bread is baked and cooled, we recommend topping it with banana "nice cream" and some in-season fruits for an extra yum factor! We topped ours with nice cream, honey, peach slices, crushed pistachio, and dried rose petals.

Super Powered Banana Bread

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time 30 mins

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

¾ cup almond flour

¼ cup coconut flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon arrowroot powder

1 teaspoon chia seeds

1 teaspoon flax seeds

¼ cup coconut sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch of sea salt

Wet ingredients

2 eggs

2 very ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 tablespoons melted coconut oil

Optional Toppings:

Honey

Chopped Pistachios

Sliced Peaches

Banana “Nice Cream”

Almond Butter

Jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease an 8 x 4 baking loaf and set aside.

Whisk eggs with coconut oil and vanilla. Mash bananas with a fork into the mixture.

Add dry ingredients to same mixing bowl and stir to combine. Mixture should be slightly runny.

Add mixture to baking loaf and bake on middle rack.

Check after 30 minutes by sticking a toothpick in the the middle. If it comes out dry, the bread is done. If the toothpick comes out with batter, place back in oven for another 5-10 minutes, depending on oven.

The mini-chefs I worked with this week were eager to celebrate the holiday by eating a ton of creamy avocado, but they also wanted to beat the NYC summer heat with a yummy frozen dessert. We found the perfect solution with this vegan avocado-based ice cream.

To fully embrace the spirit of the holiday, we whipped up the avocado ice cream and then crafted this treat to look like it's original source. We saved the avocado shell, spooned the ice cream back into it, and created a chocolate coconut ball for the "pit." The end result was adorable and so satisfying. And, of course, these were so much fun to make!

Avocado Ice Cream Recipe

Serves 4

Prep time: 10 mins

Freeze Time: 3 hours

Ice Cream Ingredients:

2 avocados (reserve avocado skin for serving)

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice

½ of a can of full fat coconut milk

2 tablespoons of maple syrup

½ teaspoon of salt

"Pit "Ingredients (Optional):

¼ cup unsalted sunflower seeds

¼ cup sunbutter

1 tablespoon melted coconut oil

2 tablespoon of maple syrup

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Handful of mini chocolate chips

Directions:

Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender and transfer to a loaf pan, wrapped in plastic. Freeze for an hour or up to 1 week. Let soften at room temperature 20 minutes before serving.

To make the pit: place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. Scoop out with either a spoon or cookie scoop and roll into 2 inch balls.

When ice cream has set but hasn’t quite frozen spoon back into avocado skin and place the pit in the middle!